


A Daydream Away

by Killedbycroc



Category: All Time Low
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-18
Updated: 2013-03-18
Packaged: 2017-12-05 17:50:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/726121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Killedbycroc/pseuds/Killedbycroc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Alex? You there?” Hurriedly, I shoved my failed scrawlings which I called attempts at lyrics down the side of some box which just happened to be close by. Lifting my head a couple of seconds later, I found myself nearly face-to-face with Sophie, the girl with whom I was completely infatuated, though to her, all we would ever be is best friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Daydream Away

  No no no, I thought to myself, the song’s not right, it’s not perfect – it needs to be perfect, just like her. Her... even though her hair colour was constantly changing, that sparkle in her eye never vanished, and it was one of the things that managed to keep me longing over her, that kept me going through endless nights of torture over the fact that she didn’t seem to notice the feelings that I had for her.  
  “Is anybody down there?” As soon as I heard that voice from the top of the stairs (which led into the basement where I was currently hiding), I dropped my guitar from my hold as if it was a bomb, and urgently began to tidy up the mess that surrounded me. “Alex? You there?” Hurriedly, I shoved my failed scrawlings which I called attempts at lyrics down the side of some box which just happened to be close by. Lifting my head a couple of seconds later, I found myself nearly face-to-face with Sophie, the girl with whom I was completely infatuated, though to her, all we would ever be is best friends. “What are you doing in here?”  
  “Trying to get away from the distractions that you seem to cause a lot of whenever you’re around,” I mumbled softly, but she didn’t seem to get the hint.  
  “Trust you to find the darkest, coldest place and hide there when it’s such a nice day outside. Now come on, I’m taking you away from here.”  
  I shook my head. “Let me stay down here in confinement like I usually do.”  
  “Alex,” her expression was as serious as anything, “I’m not taking no for an answer.” One glance into her eyes made my comeback vanish into thin air.  
  “Fine then,” I agreed, trying my very hardest to appear disgruntled but knowing that I failed at it, seeing as that innocent smile was still plastered across her face.  
  “Good. Now come upstairs,” Sophie cheerfully said as she headed for the stairs, “I made chocolate cake.” Despite the fact that I was madly in love with her, I hastily got up and followed her – what, she made some of the best damn chocolate cake in the whole world!  
  The smell first hit me when I just standing in the doorway to the kitchen; it was too much chocolaty goodness for words to be able to properly describe. “God,” I told Sophie, “I don’t get how you can make things smell so good!”  
  “Cus I’m magic like that. Now have some, before I eat it all like last time.” Carefully, she cut me a slice and handed it to me, before cutting herself a piece which was easily twice as big as mine. Seeing the look of annoyance on my face, she explained her ‘good intentions’. “Come on, I’m only tiny compared to you! If I had any less than this, I’d start to waste away, and you wouldn’t want your Sophie to waste away now, would you?”  
  “I guess not,” I smiled back at her as we sat on the floor, too desperate to eat the cake to find some actual chairs. As usual, her cake was beyond heavenly. “Tell me again why you don’t make this all the time?”  
  “Because I’m not your personal wench.” Sophie went to throw a towel at me that was just lying around, but she missed me by a long shot, causing her, and then me, to laugh hysterically.  
  We continued to eat the cake, when a question suddenly popped into my head. “Wait, it’s a Tuesday, why aren’t you with Sean?” Sean was her boyfriend of about three months now, and with his current recording schedule, they didn’t have a lot of time to be together during the week.  
  “We broke up on Sunday,” she mumbled so softly I barely heard her, but there was no mistaking those words. They were the words that I had been praying to hear every day since she introduced her new boyfriend to us, and now that I had heard them… I wish I hadn’t, just so she wasn’t so upset. “He wasn’t cheating on me, before you start.” Her previous boyfriend, Max, had gotten drunk at a party and told her all about his ‘other’ girlfriend. “Sean just said that his ex wanted to get back with him, and he thought it was best if we cooled it for a while so he could figure out what he wanted.” Even so, I could feel my anger levels rise inside of me – it was obvious she was being played here, and he was just trying to break it to her gently.  
  “So when will he know?” I asked as I placed my empty plate on the floor next to me. “About who he wants to be with.”  
  “He said he’s meeting up with her today, talking through a few things,” she sighed as she also put her plate on the floor, most of the cake intact. “Then he just wants to see what will happen, but he said he’ll tell me as soon as he knows.”  
  “You mean after he’s fucked her,” I mumbled.  
  “Hey,” Sophie kicked my leg, “Sean’s a good guy, okay?”  
  I couldn’t help but to disagree with her, though obviously I didn’t say this out loud. “Okay, I won’t say anything else.” We laughed for a moment, but her smile dropped from her face too quickly. “Hey,” I whispered as I moved around and put my arm around her, drawing her in to me, “don’t get upset over him, it’s not worth it.”  
  “You don’t understand,” she sniffed, “I really thought I had a good chance with him.”  
  “There’s always going to be other guys,” I tried to comfort her.  
  “But I don’t want other guys, I want _him_.” Not knowing what else to say, I held her close to me, stroking her hair softly as I held her close to me.  
  “Do you see what he’s doing to you, Sophie? Because of him,” I refused to use his name, “the girl who swore that she would never let a guy get to her is crying over some idiot.” Pulling my arm away, I moved myself directly in front of her face. “He’s not worth it, okay?”  
  She focused her eyes on mine, wiping away a couple of her tears. “I guess not. It’s just that…” Sophie paused for a minute, trying to think of the words to bring her thoughts to life. “Have you ever felt _so_ connected to someone? Not just liking the same stuff, but actually understanding them more than anyone else you’ve ever met before?”  
  “Yeah,” I choked out, my mouth becoming dryer with every passing moment, “I have.”  
  “Well that’s what it felt like when I was with Sean.”  
  Sophie’s face in that moment of time was something I would never forget; it was a bittersweet mixture of happiness and pain, both caused by a single memory. This was a side in her I had never seen before, and for just one second, I thought I had seen what true love looked like. “Enough about him now,” I quickly spoke, trying to move him behind us as fast as possible, “you’ve still got some cake to eat, remember?” Holding her unfinished plate out to her, a smile slowly spread across her face.  
  “I like cake,” Sophie joyously whispered to herself, and for the rest of the afternoon we sat around, talking and eating more cake until the stories had been told and the cake was all gone. 

  The next two days passed by relatively uneventful, Sophie having gone in to the photography studio to work on a couple of shoots, meaning that I was free to continue attempting to write my song for her. In my mind, I knew exactly what I felt, what I _wanted_ to say to her, but when I found myself staring at my guitar and a blank piece of paper, I couldn't find the right words to use, like... like the words to explain everything just didn't exist. But they were out there, the words – they just had to be.  
  Friday night, I was taking a break, deciding that I was trying to force it too much; so far, I had figured out the basic chords to use and nothing more. My mind continued to glaze over the TV screen, too infuriated with myself to be able to concentrate on anything else, as though I should be punishing myself more than I already was.  
  I was so far away in my thoughts that I didn't notice the person at the door until they started shouting through the letter box. "I know you're in there Alex, your car's outside!"  
  Standing up to open the door, I attempted to clear everything out of my mind, even though it was completely pointless. "Sorry," I apologised to Sophie as I opened the door, "my mind wasn't really with me."  
  "When _is_ it with you?" she mumbled softly as she walked in and threw herself down on the couch, leaving no room for me (though it wasn't the first time it had happened).  
  "So what brings you here tonight then?" I asked, towering above her.  
  Sitting up, Sophie placed her face in her hands, looking slightly bored. "I just didn't feel like being on my own tonight." She turned to face me, perfect puppy dog eyes gazing at me from below. "You don't mind if I crash here, do you?"  
  "Even though you have a perfectly good apartment?" I chuckled, but she didn't laugh along with me. "Of course you can."  
  "Thank you."  
  I sat down next to her, both of us staring at the TV but not really watching it. Slowly, thoughts of the song began to creep into my mind again, and no matter how much I tried to distract myself, they kept returning, over and over again. Every time I turned to look at her, ideas for lyrics exploded in my mind, but when I sorted through them, it was clear that none of them were good enough to use.  
  The show soon ended and another one began, the only real measure of time passing between us. It felt strange, neither of us saying anything to the other, but I understood why as I turned my head and saw tears rolling down Sophie's face. "Are you okay?"  
  Acknowledging my words, she wiped her eyes. "Yeah, it's just... I haven't heard from Sean this week, and I don't want to call in case..." I knew what she meant - she was too worried that he had chosen his ex over her, and that she'd rather live in purgatory instead of having a definite answer.  
  "...I'll tell you what, I'll go order pizza if you go start up the Xbox."  
  Barely before I could finish my sentence, Sophie was staring at me, wide-eyed. "Do you still have Left 4 Dead?"  
  "Yeah."  
  "Good." Her voice sounded like she needed to go on a serious killing spree, so I thought it best to order two pizzas (she was as protective over pineapple pizza as she was chocolate cake, and I certainly wasn't going to stand in her way). Once I'd ordered, I sat back down on the couch, finding that Sophie was already screaming abuse at the game. "DIE YOU STUPID ZOMBIE AAAAAARGH MOVE OUT THE WAY NO NO NO NO I NEEDED TO GET THERE WHY WON'T YOU MOVE YOU PIECE OF SHIT?!?!?!?!"  
  "Feeling better?" I asked her, tentatively picking up the second controller.  
  "I will when these characters stop being so stup- GODDAMNIT MOVE YOUR ARSE BEFORE I SHOVE A KNIFE UP IT!" Looking at the screen, I couldn’t see anything that was blocking her way. “I’M TALKING TO YOU GASKARTH, MOVE IT!”  
  “Sorry,” I muttered as I moved out the way and sat down on the couch as quickly as possible, not wanting to risk any injury from flying controllers.  
  We continued to fight off the zombie apocalypse, with Sophie not even stopping to eat her pizza (her reasoning being that zombies wouldn’t stop in real life to let her eat). Eventually we became part of the mindless hoard, and she devoured four pizza slices in quick succession, barely taking breaths between each bite. “We need to move onto CoD,” she managed to say through a mouthful of pizza, “killing dead people just isn’t working anymore.”  
  “Sure,” I told her while changing the discs over, feeling sorry for whatever people she was going to stumble across during her slaughter frenzy. “Just try to leave it a bit longer before killing me this time, okay?”  
  “If you don’t want to be killed,” she sighed, “then don’t take the first fucking kill from me again.”  
  “Not my fault if I’m better than you,” I muttered as silently as I could, though it was pointless as I earned the death glare from Sophie.  
  “We’ll see about that, you fucking scene-haired fucktwat.”  
  Now, if there’s one thing that people aren’t allowed to mock, it’s the hair. “Oh, you’re going for the hair, are you? Remind me which one of us once changed our hair colour three times in the same week.”  
  Sophie’s eyes narrowed into slits, her gaze focusing on me like a deadly laser. “You’re going down.” At that moment, the game loaded up, and we headed straight into combat – I made sure to run in the opposite direction as quickly as possible. “Oh you wuss, come out and play.”  
  “It’s either this or risk you attacking me in real life,” I sighed as I subtly moved away from her on the couch, trying to reduce the chance of possible injury.  
  For the next couple of minutes we continued to run around, until Sophie came across a group of unsuspecting people. “Hehehe, be prepared to die twelve year old noobs,” she manically grinned to herself. She began to sneak up behind them, but unsuspecting to her, I was right behind her, trailing her every step… Once she was in position, I took my chance and ran up to her, knifing her in the back. “Wha…” Sophie’s face dropped as she spun round to face me. She spoke in a low tone, trying to hide her anger. “You did not just take the first kill. By killing me. With a _fucking_ knife.”  
  “Who’s better now?” I simply replied, and we carried on playing throughout the night. 

  Sometime around 10am I woke up, Xbox controller still in my hands – we had both fallen asleep on the couch, but Sophie was still peacefully slumbering, face buried deep into a cushion. I stretched my legs before standing up, heading upstairs to change my clothes. With every step, the image of her perfectly tranquil face echoed throughout my head, lingering there like sweet perfume. Now, more than ever, it seemed almost impossible for my thoughts to be about anything but her.  
  After changing, I headed back downstairs, noticing that Sophie was beginning to stir. “Morning lazy,” I yelled to her as I walked into the kitchen.  
  “Ugh, please say the next words out of your mouth involve something to do with coffee,” she groaned, “preferably where I get to drink a lot of it.”  
  “Coming right up.” I browsed through the cupboard where I usually kept the coffee, but to my horror, only a jar of decaf stood before me – there was no way that I could get away with giving Sophie decaf (even if she didn’t taste the difference, she’d most likely be grouchy for the rest of the day). “Um, do you want to go out for coffee instead?”  
  “I told you to buy more last week,” she grumbled as she appeared in the doorway, rubbing her eyes furiously. “Sure, but I need to go back to mine first, I need to change and pick up my camera.”  
  Closing the cupboard door, I picked my keys up off the counter. “Okay then, we’ll go now.” We were out the door almost instantly (only because Sophie hadn’t brought any stuff with her yesterday), and into the car in a flurry of movement. I turned the key in the ignition and the car sprung into life, purring softly in the background as blink-182 spilled out of the speakers. Gazing over at Sophie’s face before I pulled out of the driveway, I could see a modest smile appearing as her head nodded along to First Date – it was impossible to stop a grin spreading across my own face. “So,” I asked her as we drove out of my street, “what do you need your camera for?”  
  “Marcus wants me to build up our stock image library,” she sighed lightly while staring out the window, “so expect me to be spending a lot of time around grass today.”  
  The rest of the journey was relatively quiet, only the lyrics of First Date filling the void. “ _When you smile, I melt inside, I'm not worthy for a minute of your time. I really wish it was only me and you._ ” I so desperately wanted to tell her in that moment what had been going through my head for so long, and for a split second, I thought I might do, but as we arrived at Sophie’s house, she leapt out of the car as soon as it had stopped.  
  “I’ll be back in a few minutes, just wait here until I’m back,” she called through the open door, slamming it shut behind her. Angry at myself for not having the guts to say anything, I turned the radio off furiously, leaving me to stew in the silence.  
  It felt like I had waited for an eternity for her to return, though as I glanced at the clock when Sophie sat back down in the passenger seat, only ten minutes had passed. “Ready to go then?” I started the car up once more, waiting for her reply. When she didn’t say anything, I turned towards her, seeing the faintest of tears forming in the base of her eyes. “What happened?”  
  “He left a message on my phone.” Oh. “He said he’s going out to dinner with her tonight.” Her voice was unbelievably quiet.  
  “So he’s chosen her then?”  
  “I don’t know… he said he’s still not sure, but it sounded like he wants to get back with her.” Tears began to flow softly down her face, choked sobs escaping from her throat.  
  “Hey,” I whispered as I took her hand in mine, caressing it delicately, “if he doesn’t choose you, then clearly he was never right for you, seeing as he’s that stupid to give you up just like that.” Sophie forced a smile, but she couldn’t keep it on her face for long. “Listen, we’ll go do something fun today, show that you can be happy without him, okay?”  
  She snorted, though a small smile stayed on her face this time. “We can’t escape real life forever, you know.”  
  “I know.”  
  She squeezed my hand once before letting go. “Okay then, what magical plan do you have for this day of fun?”  
  “Let’s start off with coffee, and see where we go from there.”  
  “Sounds like a great plan.” And so we drove off, the radio turned on once more as we sang our hearts out to The Rock Show. 

  As suspected, Sophie drank her coffee within five minutes as we strolled through the city, whereas mine remained untouched with every step we took. Every few seconds we’d pause, Sophie passing me her cup as she photographed another scene. “Are you gonna drink that?” she enquired, pointing at my own coffee.  
  “Probably not,” I exhaled, passing her my untouched drink – even though she’d become incredibly hyper with the second cup, she would have been sulking for the rest of the day if she didn’t have it.  
  We continued on for a few minutes, until she paused and drained off the rest of the coffee. “Well I’ve got enough background shots now. Apparently Marcus said there’s a fair on today, wants me to get a few pictures from there too.”  
  “Okay, sounds good,” I grinned at her.  
  “Are you sure? I mean this day-out thing was your idea, I don’t want to feel like I’m forcing you to keep me company while I’m doing work stuff.”  
  “It’s fine Sophie, honestly,” I chuckled. “It sounds like fun anyway.”  
  We decided to leave the car where it was, as the fair was only a five minute walk away – Sophie kept trying to take pictures of me, but I’d always duck or put my hands over my face just before she pressed the shutter. “Aw come on,” she whined, “just lemme take a picture of you. I promise I’ll make you look better than usual!”  
  “I look damn fine already, thank you very much.” Still, she tried to attack me with the camera, causing me to finally give in. “Fine, but you have to be in the photo as well!”  
  “Okay then,” she smirked manically, “but I’ll have to do a test shot first. You know, just to make sure the conditions are okay.”  
  I narrowed my eyes at her, and she narrowed hers at me; I broke the gaze first, doubling over in laughter. “You win, just take the stupid photo already.” Looking superior, she raised the camera and took several pictures in a row. “Hey, you said _one_ , now come here will you?” Squishing herself as close into me as possible, she took the picture, deciding instantly afterwards that she didn’t like it.  
  “Oh God, my hair’s a mess… Ugh, let me delete it.”  
  “Oh no you don’t,” I exclaimed as I wrestled the camera out of her hands. “You won’t have another picture taken if you delete it.”  
  “Yeah, well, it’s my camera,” she tried to argue unsuccessfully as I moved the camera out of reach above her head. “Come on, I look horrible in it. Do you really want to remember me looking like _that_?”  
  Lowering the camera, I smiled warmly at her. “Yes, because you look pretty in it, okay?” Sophie stopped in her attempts to reclaim the camera, focusing her gaze on the ground.  
  “Thank you.” Even though she wanted to hide it, there was an undeniable grin on her face. “Can I have my camera back please though?” Without protest I handed it back, still making sure that she didn’t delete the image. For a further five minutes we stood just outside of the fair, Sophie taking multiple photos (and yes, a couple of them included grass) before we actually headed inside. “Right, so I just need to get a couple of crowd shots, and then I should be done with this thing for the day.”  
  “Right, because absolutely _nobody_ is going to realise that you’re pointing that big thing in their direction, nobody at all.”  
  “Pfft, I am ninja,” she boasted jokingly, placing her hands on her hips. “Would you mind getting me a drink while I find somewhere to sit, please?”  
  “I’m not buying you any coffee,” I stated, unwavering in my tone of voice; her bottom lip trembled slightly, but my mind wouldn’t be changed. “No, it’s hard enough to deal with you when you’ve had two coffees as it is.”  
  “ _Fine_ ,” she huffed dramatically, “get me something with sugar in then.” I was still sceptical about that, but I nodded and walked away, knowing that anything was better than more coffee.  
  At the food stand I ordered just some random iced drink for Sophie, not wanting anything myself. Returning to her, I found Sophie now sat at a table by herself, inconspicuously taking pictures of pretty much every person that passed her by. “Please, don’t take anymore today,” I said, shielding my face from her, “I don’t think the camera could take it.”  
  “Well it didn’t break earlier, so I think it’ll survive,” she smiled innocently back at me as I slid the drink across the table to her. Taking a sip, her face pursed up. “Really, alcohol this early in the day?”  
  “What?” I questioned her as I sat down. “Give me that.” She placed the drink in my outstretched hand, and as I tried it as well, my face made a similar expression to hers. “Holy shit, that’s strong. Sorry, I didn’t realise when I bought it.”  
  “It’s okay. You keep that one.”  
  “Yay,” I muttered silently to myself, “we can be Hyper and Drunk.”  
  “I’m surprised Disney haven’t made a movie of it yet.” We sat there in silence for the next few minutes – I continued to drink while Sophie took more photos, eventually putting the camera next to her on the table. “It’s weird,” she sighed.  
  “What is?” I lifted my head up from the table.  
  “That I’ve got pictures of all these people, like what was happening in their lives at a moment in time, and yet I don’t know anything about them. Where they were born, where they live, what their job is, their friends, past relationships – all hidden behind one picture. I mean, what do you think that guy’s story is?” She pointed at an orange guy covered in muscles, his t-shirt only just fitting him, who seem quite intent at looking at every woman that was older than 40 who passed him by.  
  “Well,” I leant in, close to her ear, “I’d say he’s a douche looking for his next relationship so he can fund his extremely crappy designer-label wardrobe.” Sophie moved away from me, seeming annoyed as though I wasn’t taking it seriously – I was, but it felt like if I said anything other than the obvious, then we’d just be making up our own story. “Okay then, what do _you_ think his story is?”  
  For a moment she thought, carefully deliberating everything she knew about him. “I think he had issues with his mother, never got enough attention from her when he was younger, so feels like he has to be with older women to be loved. The muscles say he’s keen to impress, maybe a bit too much by the size of that t-shirt. And the orange tan… well that just screams he’s a bit of a ‘trend follower’.”  
  The fact that she had gotten all of that from one person astonished me. “What about us?”  
  “Huh?”  
  “What do you think _we_ look like to other people?” I wanted to see if she’d take my hint.  
  By now, her face was inches away from mine. “I think they see an aspiring photographer who dragged her long-suffering best friend outside on a nice day when he’d rather be in his basement writing songs.” My previous smile faltered slightly, but I don’t think Sophie noticed. “Come on,” she exclaimed as she stood up, “let’s go explore the fair.” Pulling me up, she linked her arm through mine and led me deeper into the fair, the roar of people on rides becoming almost deafening. 

  It began to near 8pm – we had spent almost seven hours at the fair, and in that time I’d drunk another couple of the strong alcohol drinks. The sun was beginning to descend from the sky, adding a mysterious tone to the air as darkness began to fall. There was meant to be fireworks in an hour, Sophie determined to stay for them, but then a couple of droplets fell from the sky, soon turning into a heavy downpour. “I think the fireworks will be cancelled,” I yelled to her over the noise from all the stalls.  
  In her face, it was clear to tell she was disappointed. “Aww, I really wanted to see them. What do we do now?”  
  Looking around, it was clear that the majority of people were starting to leave. “I think it’s time for us to go now, we’ll make a run for it back to the car.” And so we ran as fast as we could, weaving in and out of the people around us – we couldn’t keep it up for very long, though, settling instead for a very fast walk. “Where did I put those keys?” I muttered to myself as we reached the car, running clearly not having done anything to stop us getting soaked.  
  “You are kidding, right?”  
  “What?” I glanced up at her, seeing that she wasn’t impressed at all.  
  “Have you not seen the amount you drank today? Give me the keys, I’ll drive us back.”  
  “Sure,” I agreed, not wanting to start an argument in this weather. Once I found the keys, I chucked them at Sophie, who managed to miss them and let them drop on the floor. “You’re supposed to catch those, you know?”  
  “Yeah, well…” She had no comeback. I laughed loudly before sliding into the car, only then realising just how drenched my clothes were. We drove in silence, the radio only producing static due to the rain, but it was a good silence, where nobody needed to say anything because we were just happy in our own minds for the time being. Plus Sophie was trying to concentrate on not crashing the car. Pulling into my driveway, the rain still hadn’t stopped, so we attempted to run inside – yet again, that plan was pointless when Sophie forgot that she was holding the keys. “Oh my God,” she sighed heavily as we walked through the door, “my top’s pretty much made of water right now.” Ignoring her comment for the moment, I walked straight into the kitchen and began to search through the cupboards. “ _What_ are you doing right now?”  
  “Searching for tequila,” I replied, not pausing during my rummage.  
  “Right. Well, while you do that, I’ll just be stood over here trying not to die of hypothermia.”  
  “Just borrow one of my t-shirts for tonight.” The tequila bottle had been successfully found. When I stood up and turned around, she was already heading up the stairs – I managed to find a hoodie I’d left on the couch, and put that over my soaked t-shirt (well, it’d keep me warm for the time being).  
  I’d sat back down on the table, and was beginning to pour the tequila into shot glasses when Sophie returned downstairs – the top was clearly baggy on her, but she still managed to look stunning in it. “So,” she questioned as she sat down opposite me, “you have a bottle of tequila but you don’t even have any normal coffee?”  
  “What can I say, priorities,” I murmured, not letting my concentration break. “Here,” I said as I slid a glass across the table to her, “take the first one.”  
  “But we don’t have any salt. Or limes.”  
  “Let’s live life on the edge. Just for tonight,” I joked with her, but she seemed to agree and downed the shot in one – I watched as her expression changed incredibly quickly.  
  “Oh God, I wasn’t prepared for that.” While I was still laughing, she grabbed another one and drank it much like the first one. “Or that one.”  
  “Can _I_ have one now?” Sophie nodded, gracefully granting me her permission – at first it seemed to slide down my throat relatively easily, but then the taste caught up with it. “Why the fuck do I have this again?”  
  “So you’ve got something to drink when you’re already drunk,” she replied as she grabbed her third shot.  
  We must have gone through at least half the bottle before Sophie wanted to stop, but I was determined to go on. “No… just lemme have a couple more.”  
  “Come on,” she said while pulling me up out of my chair, “you need to go sleep it off.”  
  “I haven’t had that much, I…” I began to sway on my feet a little.  
  “You’re going upstairs,” she giggled at first, quickly changing her tone to serious. “You’re drunk.”  
  “And you’re beautiful.” Before either of us had time to react to this revelation, our lips found a way onto each other, desperately trying to cling on as if our lives depended on it. It felt like I couldn’t breathe, but I didn’t care – finally what I had waited years for was happening in this moment, and it was _real_.  
  For a split second our lips parted, and I thought I could see regret in her eyes, but then we were back to kissing, the momentary lapse being forgotten instantly. 

  As my eyes opened the next morning, I began to wish they wouldn’t – there was a pounding in my head that wasn’t going to end anytime soon, and my mouth was dryer than I remembered it being. I tried to sit up but my body wouldn’t cooperate with me, instead lying there, forcing me to stare blankly at the ceiling. The events of the night before were mostly a blur to me, but there was one thing that I definitely remembered – I kept replaying the scene in my head over and over again, the way her lips felt across mine, how she’d tangled her hands in my hair, the fact that she was so warm. It was unforgettable, I told myself, and I wouldn’t allow myself to forget any detail of it, even if it was the only thing I remembered for the rest of my life. I continued staring at the ceiling, a smile permanently placing itself on my face. That’s when I heard the voices from downstairs.  
  Forcing myself to get up and throw some clothes on, I walked towards the noise, only to be greeted by Sophie holding her phone, smiling wildly. “What’s with you?” I managed to croak out.  
  “Sean just called.” So she got to dump him instead, I thought. He deserves it after being such a bastard. “He said he’s not getting back with his ex.”  
  “And?” I asked, just needing to hear the words coming out of her mouth.  
  “…And it means him and I are getting back together.”  
  My mind stopped dead, unable to process what I had just heard. “W-what do you mean, back together?”  
  “That he’s going to be my boyfriend again…” She stared at me, slightly confused. “Wow, you _did_ have a lot to drink last night.” I searched her expression intensely, determined to find some trace of emotion to say that she could remember last night… but I found nothing.  
  In that instant, every single emotion from the past two years came flying out of my mouth in a hot rage of repressed feelings. “So last night, what happened between us, that just means _nothing_ to you? You think that you can just forget about it because we were _drunk_ when it happened? No, I’m calling bullshit, I’m not letting this happen.”  
  “Wha… Alex,” Sophie replied, anxiously laughing, “I-I really don’t know what you’re talking abou…”  
  “I’ve been in love with you for two years and last night we kissed, and I am _not_ letting you take that away from me because it _happened_ , okay? _He_ ,” I spat the word out, like the poison he was, “he does _not_ get to swoop in here and take you away from me, because _I_ deserve you a thousand times more than he _ever_ did.”  
  For a split second, I didn’t want to look at her face, knowing that if I didn’t look I wouldn’t be able to see her expression, and I’d be safe from the real world just as long as I didn’t look at her, but I had to – it only took the most momentary glace to know that I had said everything she didn’t want to hear. “You think… you think that just because you’ve been this… this _saint_ that you get the right to just tell me like _that_ and I’ll instantly fall into your arms?” Sophie turned away, unable to look at me. “I know that _you_ kissed _me_ last night, but I was hoping to forget it because you were too drunk to know what you were doing… I mean, what gives you the choice to tell me _now_ , huh? My life… my life had _just_ fucking gotten where I want it to be, and now _you have to go and ruin it all!_ ” Her screaming was choked; I could imagine the tears beginning to fall now.  
  “Sophie,” I held back my own tears, “I’m…”  
  “ _NO!_ ” Turning around to face me one last time, I’ll never forget the look on her face – her eyes were narrowed at me in a way I’d never seen before, and the corners of her lips were curled up into a snarl. “You’ve been planning this all, haven’t you? I mean, yesterday, with that picture of me, you never even looked at it, did you?” Silence. “ _DID YOU?!_ ”  
  I no longer fought back the tears. “Please, I…” Sophie’s phone interrupted me; she glanced at it briefly, knowing exactly who it was.  
  “Sean’s outside now.” Her voice dropped down to barely a whisper. “The guy that I _love_.” For just a second she looked at me, her eyes locking with mine, but I knew there was nothing else I could do or say. Without so much as a goodbye, Sophie turned away from me and walked out of the door, walked out of my life. As the door slammed behind her, I felt lost, not wanting to believe what had just occurred – my mind was so sure that is was going to turn out for the best, and instead I had lost pretty much the one thing that I had cared about. The reality only really hit me a few minutes later, and that’s when I found myself walking back down into the basement, once again hiding away from the world. I sat down on a box, picked up my guitar and started to play – finally I had a lyric.  
  “ _You’re just a daydream away, I wouldn’t know what to say if I had you._ ”


End file.
